BlackBerry X10 QWERTY Device Image Leaks Again

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Research in Motion is set to launch its new platform and two handsets at the end of January, but leaks have left little room for surprise.

With little to go before the big launch, several details about the upcoming BlackBerry 10 (BB10) platform and touchscreen phone have surfaced, and now details are popping up about the BB10 QWERTY model, the BlackBerry X10.

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BlackBerry 10 is reportedly designed as a touch-based operating system. The purported BlackBerry Z10 sports plenty of room for the large app icons and application menu, and it is touchscreen-based only, which falls in line with the new OS. On the X10's small screen, however, it all seems just too crammed up.

The action bar is one of BB10's key features, but on the small screen of the X10 it takes up significant real estate at the bottom of the screen. On the other hand, the QWERTY keyboard is one of BlackBerry's few remaining strengths, and it is also the feature that consecrated BlackBerry phones. It's only natural for RIM to offer a QWERTY model with the BB10 as well.

Even from the early stages of BB10 development, RIM said that it would keep supporting and producing phones with physical keypads. Moreover, the company insists that its customers simply love the QWERTY keypad. A larger screen does indeed leave much more room for activities, but those used to the QWERTY keypad often find it difficult to let it go and jump to the virtual keypad.

To attack on all fronts, RIM is now offering the X10 model to cater to the needs of QWERTY fans, and another model that falls more in line with current trends. The company spent significant time on BB10's virtual keyboard, and it's expected to deliver in full. In fact, BB10's predictive keyboard was, for a good while, one of the few things the company was showing off to the media.

The QWERTY model, however, has been more elusive, and not so many details had surfaced until now. N4BB has received an anonymous tip, and has exclusively published some clear photos of the BlackBerry 10 (N-Series), presumably the BlackBerry X10, in a new report on Saturday, Dec. 29. Does the X10 look like something that could make it on the increasingly competitive smartphone market, or is RIM up for another free fall?